Dental groups urge Congress to prioritize student debt

According to ADA News, the ADA, American Dental Education Association and American Student Dental Association urged Congress to prioritize student debt as the Senate education committee opened hearings on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

“We are extremely concerned about the alarming levels of educational debt that dental students face at graduation,” the dental education, professional and student organizations told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a letter.

“The cost of dental education should not be a prohibitive factor for those wanting to enter the profession,” the organizations’ volunteer and staff leaders said. “The cost of dental education should not be a prohibitive factor for those wanting to enter the profession. For that reason, we urge you to prioritize the following when reauthorizing the HEA and considering other student loan legislation.”

Lower federal graduate student loan interest rate(s) and the total amount of interest that can accrue on federal graduate student loans.

Enable federal graduate student loans to be refinanced more than once to take advantage of lower interest rates and better economic conditions.

Extend the period of deferment for repaying federal graduate student loans to the maximum extent practicable.

Simplify and add more transparency to the federal graduate student loan application process.

This would help out so many dental school students. I know that dental school can get pretty expensive and it can leave you with a lot of debt in the end. I think it is smart to look into alternative ways to get money and get you through school. It would be nice if the government was able to fix the interest rate so that it wasn’t so bad for those students.

Dental students, and just about everyone it would seem. High tuition and debt is definitely a deterrent for young students and carrying that debt after graduation will make it difficult to get started in a career. At some point, we will all need to decide that enough is enough.